Update 2-25-14

Hi,

OK, now let's see if people can keep the following information straight, because I do want to pass it on to those who are interested.

Tom McPartland, class of '64, has just announced that the class of '64 is having its 50th Reunion on October 10, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Wind Watch Hotel in Hauppague.  A buffet is planned to start at 6 PM.  If you're interested in attending, please contact Tom at:  tommcp@ptd . net  ( please remove the spaces)

[Rich -- And, yes, of course, this is the hotel where the class of '65 has had two reunions.  But we are not having our 50th there, and, besides, our 50th isn't until April 24-26, 2015.  Still, a lot of people who weren't in the class of '65 came to our 40th, so a lot of people who weren't in the class of '64 may want to go to its 50th.

    And there will be further announcements of the class of 64's party in this newsletter, and they will eventually overlap announcements planning the class of '65's party.  But I'll try to remind everyone that these are two different parties, so everyone can keep the information straight.

    Not that there's anything wrong with going to two parties.  And I think the classes of '60, '61, and '62 usually have a joint annual party in the fall, so you can go to that one, too.]

Tom's announcement was originally sent by Rich Sternhell, who wrote:  Don't know if you're aware of this and thought you might want to mention it in your newsletter, in case some former South people who read that know of folks that Tom McPartland hasn't been able to locate.  There may be siblings and friends who who aren't on his list.

[Rich -- Tom is running the reunion announcements though Classmates . com, and it looks like there are 176 class of '64 people on that list.  But I don't know how many of them look at that site.  This is the first time I've been on it again in some years.]

In less confusing news, Peter Rosen writes:  Thanks for checking up on us after the snow storms.  We are doing great.  Fortunately, we were able to get home and sit out the ice.  We got to watch season one of House of Cards.  OMG, what a great show, and Kevin Spacey is beyond good.  The bad news is that the show does depict reality.

    Also, since you published my updated web site in the newsletter, I have heard from a few classmates, and that was such a pleasant surprise.  Please take care, and, again, I can’t wait to see you and everyone else next year.

From Donald Faber:  Sorry about that missing youtube link last week.  It was apparently removed right after I sent it, but it's back and has been updated.  "The Evolution of a Hometown, Valley Stream" should now be here for a while.  I suspect the link's owner had received a lot of hits over the previous few days.  My sister originally sent the link to me, and I sent it to at least a half-dozen others.

        The new link:  youtube . com/watch?v=7Qbd7Vwkwdc  (again, remove the spaces)

[Rich -- Yep, it works.  I just checked.  By the way, the owner of the link and the creator of the video is Amy Kassak Bentley.  That's not surprising, seeing how interested Amy is in Valley Stream and Green Acres history, and how well informed she's become on the subjects.  Thanks, Amy.  Thanks Donald.]

From Bernie Scheidt:  Mr. Lichtenstein also graded our notebooks.  Barry Cohen and I, both being members of the photo club, got around having to copy everything Mr. Lichtenstein wrote by taking a picture of the board and taping it into our notebook!  I think we missed the importance of the exercise -- that if you wrote information down you had a better chance of remembering it -- but at least we had complete notebooks!

From Joanne Shapiro Polner '59:   Mr Saffrin, yes!  And that's the correct spelling of his name.  Great stories have arisen from the topic of the biology notebooks for Mr. Saffrin's class.  I may have told mine before on these pages, but I must tell it again.

    I have kept my biology notebook as one of my most precious pieces of work from South High, equal to the minimum fifty French Verb Charts from the French classes of Mrs Vamvakis, who taught us for at least 5 years, maybe more, starting in "junior high school."  I was in the South High Class of '59, the second graduating class from the new high school.  Yes, we had to copy our biology notes over and make a perfect book for Mr Saffrin to look over and to initial or sign his approval.  Time passed by.  My black and white hardcover thread-bound notebook sat in safety with other memories in a closet.  My husband, Alex, '58, and I were going to attend a three (four?)-class reunion of the first sets of graduates.  Why three/four?  Because so many of us married people from the other first classes, as well as from our own.  I brought along my biology notebook because Mr Saffrin was going to be there.

    I remember the moment when I approached our great task-master, standing among other alums and with another former teacher.  "Mr. Saffrin," I said, "I have brought my biology class notebook here with me tonight. I would like you to sign it again."  He took the notebook, slowly thumbed through it, and signed where he had made his mark a hundred years ago in the fifties.  He said to me, "Did I teach all that?" and I said,"Yes, you did -- and you tested us on all that, too!"  I remember that a very satisfied look settled on his face, and he smiled.

[Rich -- Yes, that's obviously how you spell Saffrin.  I thought it might be off in the last newsletter, but I was typically too lazy to check.  As for Lichtenstein and Vamvakis, you're on your own.]

Finally, from Zelda White Nichols:  My e-mails last week were to lighten things up a bit.  Meanwhile, regarding cat bites -- I have had cats for 45 years.  As last week's article stated, cat bites are punctures.  No matter how sweet your cat might be, there are triggers that can make it revert to when all cats were be wild.  Then, preservation instincts take over, and the cats bite.  In 45 years, I've been bitten twice.  Should you be bitten and it's a deep puncture, go directly to the emergency room.  The last time I was bitten was a morning when we were flying from Charlotte, North Carolina to Portland, Oegon.  One of my cats has dementia -- she was 18, and now is 20 -- and she was obviously upset when she saw us leaving with our suitcases at 5:00  AM.  I went to pet her, and her fangs sank into my forearm. ,There was no time to get to the emergancy room since we had to get to the airport, so I wiped on some Neosporin.  But by the time we landed in Portland, my arm had blown up and was severely infected.  Again, cats mouths -- even those of indoor cats  -- have more bacteria in them than in any other animal's except humans.

[Rich -- More from Zelda's note next week.]

The class of '65  50th Reunion dates:  April 24 through April 26, 2015

The South '65 e-mail addresses: reunionclass65 . blogspot . com  (remove the spaces)

The South '65 photo site: picasaweb . google . com/SouthHS65    (ditto)

Rich